It's been said, especially recently, that history has a way of repeating itself. Armies invade and wars are waged year after year and century after century. As much as advances in science and technology can propel us forward, the foibles of human nature can pull us backward.
When Napoleon Bonaparte stormed into Alexandria, Egypt in 1798, he was following in the footsteps of a long line of earlier occupiers. The Romans, The Crusaders and Alexander the Great all left their footprints on the history of Egypt. But Napoleon's occupation went beyond a mere military force. Among the 55,000 troops and 400 ships arriving near the shores of Alexandria, were 150 scientists, engineers and artists known as savants. It was their job to explore, describe and document every facet of Egypt. From the architecture to the country's flora and fauna, no stoneliterallywas to be left unturned.
An interesting, if not somewhat academic, exhibition on view in the SUArt Galleries illustrates how Napoleon's quest to document all-things-Egyptian informed Western views of the country and influenced painters, architects, photographers and decorative artists for centuries to follow. The show, titled "Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt," is on loan from the Dahesh Museum of Art in New York City and remains on view in the Shaffer Art Building until March 29.
See the above page for the full story.
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